


Three's a Company

by SocialBookWorm



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angry Sans, Be Prepared For A Long Wild Ride, But He's Not Fooling Anyone, Chara Needs a Hug, Female Chara, Female Frisk, Flowey Tries To Be Evil, Frisk Needs A Hug, Gen, Like A Really Long Time, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Genocide Runs, Past Pacifist Runs, Referenced AUs, Sans needs a break, Sort of Soft Chara, They've Done This For A Long TIme, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:29:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7852615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialBookWorm/pseuds/SocialBookWorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had been at this for a long time. The longer it took to try and find a way out, the more Chara worried that one day Frisk was going to run out of Determination, and then they’d lose each other. Then the Smiley Trashbag- Sorry. Sans had to notice something for the first time in RESETS. And Chara couldn’t even kill him this time.</p><p>But from there, from a small ripple, the consequence spread, and maybe, just maybe this was the break they needed to get out of this mind numbing loop.</p><p>Arc 1- I'm so tired 3/?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm so tired PART 1

I’m so tired PART 1  


It always started with the flowers, golden petals gleaming in the small amount of light that reached down that far. Chara reached out for that familiar warmth on instinct, too many RESETS where the two of them were separated, and the warmth of Frisk’s soul rushes through her with reassuring kindness. It was weaker than last time, which had been weaker than last time, and weaker than last time, weaker than last time, weaker than last time-  


_Chara,_ Frisk butted in gently, her voice tired even in their shared head. _I’m fine._  


But she wasn't, and both of them knew it. She was running out of Determination, and when that happened-  


Chara refused to think about it.  


_It’s your turn to choose,_ she finally responded, putting off the problem as the two of them were apt to. They had plenty of time to take care of things, time was the only thing they had besides each other after all.  


_Chara,_ Frisk said quietly, _I’m so tired. I just want to take a break._  


She grit her teeth, feeling frustration build at the situation. Frisk had earned her happy ending a long time ago, if she even had to earn it at all. All of those nightmares of genocides were Chara’s fault after all. And while a part of her was grateful that she didn’t have to go through this endless repeating hell alone, Frisk deserved to have a rest.  


Chara released a long slow breath.  


_Alright,_ Chara said gently, _You just sleep. I’ll take care of everything this time._  


_…no stabbing?_  


Chara chuckled, standing up and heading towards the room where they would meet Flowey again. _No violence if only so you don’t have to worry. I promise._  


Gratitude washed over the self proclaimed demon and then Frisk’s consciousness was as gone as it could be, feeling almost like she had slipped into a coma. Chara steeled herself and walked through the doorway, the familiar friendly chip grating on her nerves as soon as it started.  


“Howdy!” the golden flower said, his tone a little more forced than it had been than last time. “I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower!”  


“Flowey,” Chara said darkly, “How much do you remember?”  


The flower flinched, before sneering, “What do you think?! We’re stuck like this. Might as well give up now. How many resets has it been? How old do you think you are now Chara?”  


“Shut up,” Chara snapped. “There has to be a way.”  


“And that right there is why these loops are never going to end,” he said haughtily. “Because you’re Determined to find a way out.”  


Chara flinched, and before any more could be said the familiar flare of fire magic appeared and Flowey was gone.  


“What a miserable creature. Tormenting a poor innocent soul like you,” the familiar bulk of Toriel taking up most of her vision. Chara took a mental deep breath and put on her best ‘Frisk’ face. If the other soul wanted to rest, then it would be best to just go through this normally, like the first time Frisk had freed everyone.  


“Don’t be afraid my child,” Toriel said, “My name is Toriel, keeper of the Ruins-”  


Chara found her attention waning as the almost scripted lines washed over her. She moved when it was required and nodded along whenever the boss monster glanced back at her.  


_Rest well Frisk,_ Chara whispered in her mind, _I’ll take of everything._  


The rest of the trip through the Ruins was uneventful, complementing every monster that came up, cheering Napstablook on, bought a spider donut for the later confrontation with Muffet, purposely avoiding the toy knife, and met up with Toriel again. Rest for the night, store the pie, and go trigger the fight with Toriel.  


The same thing time after time after time. Chara could understand why Frisk always seemed so exhausted by the end of every timeline. She leaned into the hug that Toriel gave a little but more than necessary before the goat woman left again. Chara wanted to say that she still loved her adopted mom, especially since Frisk definitely did, but it was hard to see them as actual people the longer these loops went on.  


Still, Frisk didn’t like it when she killed everyone. And at this point Frisk was the only one that mattered  


Flowey wasn’t in the next chamber, and Chara hoped that it meant that he was looking for something useful for once, but she doubted it. The stupid soulless creature prefered to follow her around to try and get her to stab things instead.  


The sharp chill of Snowdin air snapped her from her thoughts, and the large door shut behind her with a finalizing bang. Chara took the moment to lean against the door and let out a breath. She was barely beginning and she was already ready to curl up and sleep. She wanted a run where she and Frisk went looking for something new, something to fill them with Determination. She wanted a run where they finally got a lead on why the world kept resetting even when they didn’t press that goddamn button.  


She wanted this to be done.  


But until then, Chara had to stay Determined, especially if Frisk started to waver. The two of them went through ups and downs, and Frisk had always been there for Chara’s, so the least she could do is help support Frisk’s wavering Determination when the time came around.  


She pushed off of the door, and stepped through the snow, leaving behind footprints as she shivered slightly, pulling more into Frisk’s sweater. She stepped over the stupid branch that the smiley trashbag always snapped, but made sure to flinch when it snapped.  


There had been one time that she had stepped in for Frisk but hadn’t acted surprised and smiley trashbag had spent the whole run staring at her as if she was going to stab anyone at any moment. Which by the end of that run, Chara had really really wanted to, if only to get the feeling of his eyes off of her back.  


“H u m a n,” the voice said from behind her, “D o n t y o u k n o w h o w t o g r e e t a n e w p a l? T u r n a r o u n d a n d s h a k e m y h a n d.”  


Chara didn’t have to fake her shiver as she turned around hesitantly and stuck her hand in his. The whoopee cushion filled the air, and she forced a giggle, earning a grin from the stout skeleton. Good. Maybe they could have a peaceful run.  


As they went through the motions of their introduction, Chara let her mind run on autopilot, running her thoughts through the run two resets ago, when they had finally managed to fix the major glitches in the SAVE files. If it had worked then they should stop having the Underground change on them. Though that one run where everyone was cruel had been fun for her.  


“-kid?” Sans’ voice broke her out of her thoughts, as he changed the script that was usually followed.  


Chara blinked, and smiled at him in confusion.  


“you uh, were zoning out there for a minute buddy,” Sans commented, which had Chara twitch mentally. The smiley trashbag had never cared enough to tell when something like that happened before.  


“I’m fine,” she chirped, and twisted her face into apprehension. Crap, she wasn’t good at being Frisk when the script changed. If it got really bad she could just kill everyone- She shook her head, she had promised Frisk. “Is your brother really coming this way?”  


Sans winked, “yup. don’t worry though i’ll keep an eye socket out for ya.”  


Chara made sure to giggle again as they crossed the bridge. Ugh, and now she had to deal with Papyrus. He was fine in short bursts, but too long and Chara started to long for her knife again, if only for a little bit of silence. She ducked behind the lamp when Sans directed her too, and faked a giggle at every pun that Sans made.  


She made a face when Papyrus finally left, but schooled her face into Frisk’s usual expression when she stepped away from the lamp. Sans gave her a weird look before saying his usual lines, and they continued forward. Chara racked her brain as she walked, wondering what she had done for Sans to study her with such scrutiny.  


She huffed under her breath, but continued forward anyways, pulling her arms closer to her body to stay warm. Her breath came out in white puffs in front of her, and she actually laughed at that, breathing out on purpose to see it again.  


“Dragon’s breath,” she said to herself, “The only magic humans can use any more.”  


She grinned, and continued onwards with a lighter heart, actually enjoying the meetings with the canine unit. If Frisk ever did let her go on a Genocide run again, they were going to be some of the people she spared.  


Greater Dog licked at her face, and Chara giggled, giving the white fur one more pet before letting the monster go. She straightened as the dog left, and caught the sight of bright yellow from the corner of her eyes. She whipped around to glare at the flower that was trying to duck back into the cold ground.  


“What are you doing here?” Chara snapped, narrowing her eyes. She had thought that he had stopped following them around once he had started to get his own deja vu feelings and realized that the RESETS had been going on for a lot longer than he had thought. The stupid flower loved to rub the constant loops in their face despite the fact that he didn’t really remember them.  


Flowey sneered, though there was a slight hesitance in the expression. “How long have you done this?”  


Chara stared at him in surprise, wondering if she should grab Frisk from her self imposed coma. Flowey always avoided them, whether because he was trying to steal the timeline or because afterwards he just didn’t want to deal with the pity of not having a Soul. This was the first time that he had ever tried to talk about the RESETS in a form other than mocking them about the constant loops.  


“....long enough that I lost count around ten thousand.” Chara admitted just to see his reaction. She would let Frisk rest unless things went really off script. Chara’s solution to that tended to be violent which never ended well for anyone.  


Flowey stared at her in a mix of horror and surprise. “Why do you keep doing this?”  


Chara let out a bitter laugh, crouching down to his level, “What makes you think we have a choice? I think Frisk’s died of old age hundreds of times by now, and every time she does we end up back at those stupid flowers. Nowadays we don’t even press that damned button. It just happens.” She cocked her head to the side, “You seem to have a basic remembrance. You asked about how long we’ve done this earlier.”  


The flower flinched, though Chara couldn’t figure out why, and was gone again. She sighed standing up. Maybe if he did start to remember things even past the True RESETS, there would be one more person to help stave off the exhaustion and repetitions. It would be nice to have her brother back in some form, and maybe they could get really serious about fixing his missing soul problem.  


She went through the motions of going through Snowdin, though she didn’t feel the need to stop by the store. Chara may not have the talent that Frisk did at dodging, but she knew the attacks of everyone in the Underground by heart now.  
Befriending Papyrus was a simple process as always, and the battle between the two of them was always the least stressful. Being against the one person who had never killed her probably helped.  


Waterfall was nice, the darker area appealing to her normal mood. Chara took a moment to grab the dusty tutu, and stood in the hidden area to take a moment to breath. She never figured out how Frisk could go around befriending every monster without getting frustrated. She leaned against the wall, and slid down so that she was sitting on the ground. Everything after this point got frantic until the barrier was broken.  


She jerked when Flowey popped up from the ground in front of her. The flower narrowed his eyes at her.  


“What are you playing at Chara?” he asked.  


“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she admitted truthfully. She hadn’t done anything to lead him on for a long time. She was always straight with him. She was done with their plan, because Asriel was dead, he wasn’t her brother, and the only person she cared about was Frisk. And Frisk actually liked this world.  


Flowey waved a leaf in the air as if to encompass everything. “This long con with Frisk. You can’t seriously believe that people like us can ever get along with someone like her.”  


Chara flinched, that statement hitting a little bit too close to home for her comfort. A part of her waited for the normal rush of warmth and comfort that Frisk would send, and though she knew it wouldn’t happen with the state that Frisk was in, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because Frisk finally couldn’t stand her.  


“I’m not planning anything,” Chara snapped back, standing up to leave, “Not like you always are Asriel.”  


“Don’t call me that!” the flower snapped, “I’m not him!”  


“No,” Chara said softly, “No, you’re not. You’re not my best friend, and haven’t been for a long time.”  


Flowey flinched, and Chara felt a small spike of guilt at that. She didn’t want to hurt the flower’s feelings- ok that was a lie, but Frisk wouldn’t have wanted her too. The other girl always tried to befriend Flowey without fail, no matter how many times the stupid flower got in their way.  


Chara sighed, and turned to leave the small alcove, freezing at the sight of Sans standing there casually. His hands were still stuffed in his pockets, which she counted as a good sign. Flowey made a small whimper of fear from behind her, and Chara was certain that he would tunnel into the ground to escape and leave her behind.  


“hey kid,” Sans said as casual as his posture, but there was something off with his constant grin, and Chara found herself shifting into the defensive on instinct. A reload now would force Frisk out of her rest, and make her even more tired. That would be unacceptable.  


The Smiley Trashbag’s eyes flickered over her, “so it seems like we need to talk.”  


Chara thought about keeping the act going, before slumping tiredly and sighing, “What gave me away?”  


Sans shrugged, “all of my notes say that the kid doesn’t like to talk, but there was snow hesitation when you addressed me earlier.”  


Chara groaned at the pun and her mistake. She had completely forgotten about that, since the two of them always talked in their head so there was no hesitation from Frisk.  


Sans eyed her, “then there was that moment against the door earlier, and talking to that flower. makes little ol’ me feel leafed out, you know?”  


She twitched at the second pun. “Fine,” she said through grit teeth, “I get it. It was obvious. What do you want?”  


The skeleton brought his hands up in a shrug, “oh you know. just want to know if your fighting skills are getting dusty.”  


Chara caught the familiar glint of anger in his eyes before it was hidden behind his normal unreadable face. She rolled her eyes, “Do your notes say how long it’s been since I’ve done anything like that?”  


“with you in control, there’s still a ghost of a chance,” Sans said darkly.  


Chara twitched again. “I don’t have to put up with this,” she muttered, moving to go around him and get back on track for this run.  


Her soul pinged blue, and Sans slammed her against the wall hard enough that her HP went down. His left eye sparked with magic, and Chara snarled at him.  


“What the hell was that for?” she snapped.  


“i’m not taking the chance that you’re going to dust everyone after earning their trust,” Sans replied darkly.  


Chara heaved a frustrated sigh, snarling at him. “So what, the one time you have to actually get off your lazy bones butt is the one time I wasn’t going to do anything? Good one comedian, yeah let’s provoke the one person who can slaughter every monster. It’s a great idea!”  


She was slammed against the wall again for her cheek.  


“Maybe,” Chara wheezed through the pain, “You just want revenge for what I did?” She smiled, all sharp jagged edges, “Or maybe you want to know what it would be like to kill someone without any consequences? Gain some LOVE?”  


She cackled, knowing that provoking him was a bad idea, but he just pissed her off. Her body was pulled forward as the smiley trashbag went to slam her into another wall, when he stumbled, dropping her.  


Chara scrambled to her feet, and took off at a sprint, not noticing the vine that had wrapped around Sans’ foot that had tripped him. The water splashed over her, and she took off in the direction of Snowdin. He wouldn’t expect her to head towards where he spent most of his time. Snow crunched under her feet as she ran, and she veered away from the town, heading deeper into the forest that surrounded the area.  


Once she thought she was far enough, she started the painstaking task of erasing her tracks behind herself as she headed towards a tree that looked stable enough to hold her for the night. She hauled herself up the branches, and settled into one of the more comfortable spots that she could find.  


Chara took a deep breath, and tried to calm her heaving chest. She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the comforting thrum of her whole-not-shattered-not-damaged soul. Alone and safe, she let herself break down, all the memories of the blue magic running through her and killing her rushing through her mind. She trembled pulling into herself more, for once glad that Frisk wasn’t coherent. Frisk didn’t deserve to go through that again when it was Chara that had killed everyone.  


She squeezed her eyes shut trying to gather her thoughts, trying to remember which run she was in. The cold air of the forest helped a little, and she jumped when something brushed against her cheek. Chara opened her eyes to see the snowfall start, and she sighed, uncurling from the ball she was in. A blizzard would be moving in, and she needed a better place to stay if she didn’t want to reload.  


The normally pleasant sound of snow underneath her feet just reminded her of how dust felt when it was kicked, and she had to stamp down on the urge to find a knife. She had promised Frisk, she was trying to be a better person. She hadn’t gained LOVE, but Frisk had given her love. It had to be enough. It had to be.  


Slowly, Chara made her way towards the town, the whole place eerily empty as the residents went home to avoid the storm. She didn’t want to head to the inn, knowing that she wasn’t going to sleep that night anyways, regardless of the snoring. Dust filled dreams that were nightmares for Frisk, and a guilty pleasure for her would just leave her awake and shaking all night.  


Instead, Chara pushed open the door to Grillby’s, knowing that the fire elemental would be in the back closing up. There wasn’t a bell on the door, so Chara was free to climb under one of the tables in the back corner without being noticed. She huddled in the shadows, watching Grillby make his final check of the bar before heading out and locking the door behind himself.  


She clambered out of her hiding spot, and made her way to the back wall. Her body may not have reached puberty yet, but she definitely needed a drink.


	2. I'm so tired PART 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans and Chara fight. She'd like it on record that she wasn't the one who started it this time.

Sans felt jittery, his magic snapping just underneath his bones. This was the first run that he knew he could prepare for the demon that took over the kid’s body. His notes indicated that one of the past Sanses had tried to figure out what was up with the kid, but Frisk had dodged him at every turn with an ease that was terrifying. 

Then there were the fuzzy memories of a time under the sun where everyone was happy, setting him even further on edge. He had never remembered the RESETS, in fact even Papyrus had better memories of them with his deja vu feelings. But he had gotten by with his notes and his ability to read others. Him remembering could only mean that something big was happening, and that couldn’t be a good sign. 

Sighing, he decided to see if Grillby was staying late that night, and teleported over to the entrance of the bar. He shoved his hands in his pocket and called out, “hey grillby, just comin’ to-” 

He cut off, looking at the kid in front of him with wide eyes. The demon prancing around in his best friend’s body gave a dry chuckle. 

“Well,” the demon muttered, pouring more alcohol into the glass in front of it, “This right here just about sums up this run.” 

Sans let out a dry chuckle, keeping an eye on the demon. “and what are you doing here?” 

“Trying to get the guts I lost after talking to a skeleton,” the demon muttered, draining its glass, and Sans felt a flicker of irritation. That wasn’t its body to be poisoning with alcohol like that, even if since it was monster made it wouldn’t hurt the kid’s body. 

“if you were anyone else i’d say that was a good one,” he said inching closer. 

The demon waved a hand to the stool next to it, “Might as well take a seat. I’m not gonna fight you here. It’d be a waste of good whiskey.” 

Sans raised an eyebrow, “whiskey? longing for the strong stuff?” He wondered if it got the sharply shaped joke in there. 

The demon let out a dark laugh, throwing its head back. “You have no idea comedian. No idea at all.” Sans sat down next to it, noting the flushed cheeks and dilating pupils. The demon was drunk and, from the way that it poured another glass, only going to get drunker. 

“See, LOVE,” the demon said, almost to itself as Sans stiffened next to it, “is almost like a drug. You never really get rid of the urge to get some. It forever scars your soul.” It snorted, and then laughed again. “Even if you wish you could be a better person, after all that you’ve done, it’s never going to happen. Isn't it ironic?” It laughed again, a bitter one this time, draining its glass. 

“I’m the demon that comes when you call its name,” it muttered, just low enough that Sans almost didn’t catch it. 

“But Frisk,” the demon continued, speaking before Sans could reply. Its eyes softened, and Sans wasn’t sure if he should feel sick that a monster like that obviously cared about his best friend. He had no idea what the kid was going through when they weren’t in control of her own body, but he couldn’t imagine that it was pleasant. 

The demon cradled its empty glass, “Frisk never gains any LOVE. No matter what situation she’s put in. Always showing Mercy. Always Mercy.” 

The demon’s head hit the counter with a hard enough thunk that Sans worried that its HP was going to go down for a moment. It muttered something into the wood that he didn’t catch, and Sans found himself at a loss of what to do. There was no guarantee that killing the thing now would give Frisk control back, and having it drunk was a good opportunity to get information from it. 

But there was something….off about everything in this run, almost like the world had been shoved a step to the left. 

“and what sit-uations are you talking about?” he asked, chuckling at the twitch the pun got out of the demon. If it hated puns, he wasn’t going to waste the chance to torment the tormenter. 

The demon laughed, tilting its head so the counter wasn’t muffling its words any more. “Nothing you have to worry about any more. We finally fricking fixed part of that stupid problem.” 

Sans blinked, “what?” 

It waved its hand, though it was more of a flop than anything else, “The glitches that messed up the world. Corrupt SAVE file. Not like you’d remember. No one ever remembers. Except Frisk. Frisk is the best you know.” 

Sans felt sweat drip down his brow at the sudden glare the demon sent him, daring him to challenge that statement. 

“the kid is pretty great,” he finally said. 

The demon brightened at his agreement, “Isn’t she?” The demon started to nod, its head bobbing up and down even when it was clear that it wasn’t nodding anymore. “She wouldn’t even Fight anyone in that one messed up world when Flowey was the only nice person.” 

The demon hummed under its breath, “It was weird that- that you liked me more than Frisk.” Sans blinked again, having no idea of what it was talking about. The demon pouted, “Frisk is better after all. All I did was beat that you into the ground for killing her. I mean she came back, but it’s the prins- prinz- idea of the thingy.” 

“well uh, sounds like you have quite the story to tell?” he finally said after a moment. This really wasn’t going anywhere close to how he thought it would. 

“Stories are nice,” the demon agreed, its words slurring together. “The-” it hiccuped, “the ones with losta deaths are my favorite.” 

And just like that Sans found himself on familiar ground again. All of his anger came rushing back, and Sans shoved himself away from the counter. The demon blinked at him, and he felt his anger grow. Where did this thing get off, ruining everyone’s lives, making them repeat over and over again, and tormenting Frisk? 

He reached out and wrapped his magic around its soul. The demon blinked again, and then giggled. “Aww Sansy if you wanted a fight, you should have just said.” 

The skeleton growled. “i just wanted another shot,” he muttered angrily. 

“Why won’t you leave me alone?!” the demon snapped, looking a little wrecked around the edges, and slamming its glass down on the counter. It shattered. “Just let me go through this run!” 

“i wonder why i’m not,” Sans said sarcastically. “i’m sure you’ve done nothing to deserve this.” 

“Not lately.” 

“i find that a little hard to swallow.” 

“Enough with the puns!” the demon roared, surging forward with a piece of glass gripped in its hand. Sans shoved it back on instinct, slamming it into one of Grillby’s tables. 

“whoops. sorry grillby,” Sans muttered when the table cracked under the weight. The demon stood up unsteadily, swaying on its feet. Blood dripped down its face, and it gripped the broken glass in its hands hard enough that Sans could see it cut deeply into the skin. Its body was shaking, but Sans chalked it up to the alcohol. 

“Why do you ruin everything?!” it yelled at him, charging forward. He dodged the swing easily, the attack clumsy. “First it’s don’t kill everything Chara. Then it’s show less Mercy Chara.” It swung again, this one going wide. “I get it alright.” Sans shoved it back again, its feet skidding across the floor. “I can’t do anything right!” 

It wobbled again before falling to the floor. It pressed its bloody hands against the wood. “I’m just a screw up that should have died.” It let out a bitter laugh. “Too bad you can’t kill what’s already dead.” 

Sans hesitated, before raising a hand to kill it while it was down. That hesitation was all that was needed for a small yellow flower to enter the bar, and put together what was happening. Sans cursed as vines and roots bust out of the ground forcing him to skip backwards to avoid getting hit. 

“Chara,” the flower called out to the demon. 

“Just leave me alone Flowey,” the demon said in a resigned tone. “What’s the point anyways? This run was screwed up from the start. Might as well let him kill me and start over.” 

Sans reached out with his magic again, and the flower turned to him. Its eyes bled black, and it open its mouth to a gaping maw of sharp teeth. 

_“You do that, and I’ll tell Papyrus alllllll about how his brother killed his best friend.”_ Sans jolted backwards in surprise at the sudden shift from the flower. _“Maybe I’ll bring up the loops and mention how many time you killed the human. How red do you think the judgement hall would be if the blood didn’t disappear after each reload?_

 _“How much do you think your precious younger brother would love you if he knew just how MERCILESS you could be?”_

“shut up,” Sans snapped. 

_“Did you ever wonder why the human just stop fighting you in the middle of some of those battles, Smiley Trashbag? Did you think it was because they felt regret? Or have you finally put it together that it was Frisk in those moments? Frisk who offered you Mercy. Frisk who you killed without remorse. Frisk who you told to never come back. Perhaps you never even gave a thought to the fact that those moments stopped after a while.”_

“stop it,” Sans said, clenching his fists. The demon was staring at the flower with wide eye, its breath picking up into a wild rhythm. 

_“Maybe all of those Genocides that could have been stopped could be placed at your feet.”_

“I said, SHUT UP!” Sans shouted, a blaster forming behind him, and shooting out at the flower. Wall after wall of roots rose from the ground rose up to take the blast, and when it was done, Flowey was panting but unhurt. 

The flower still had the gall to smirk at him. “What… you can’t....take someone…calling out all….your mistakes?” Flowey said between breaths. 

“i dont have to listen to a blooming flower,” Sans muttered. 

“I- I don’t understand,” the demon breathed. Its eyes were half lidded, and it was holding onto consciousness through sheer Determination. 

Flowey sighed, a root dragging the demon next to him. He laid a leaf on their head, and his face twisted into something that reminded Sans of King Asgore. Flowey’s voice was soft, a remnant from a lost time. “Go to sleep Chara. Everything will be fine when you wake up.” 

“You can’t tell...me what...to….do….Azzy….” the demon protested even as it fell unconscious. The look on Flowey’s face disappeared as soon as the demon’s eyes closed. He sneered at Sans. 

“Are you really that empty headed or are you trying to emulate your brother?” the flower snapped at Sans. 

“papyrus isn’t an idiot,” Sans snapped back, feeling like he was at the end of his rope. 

Flowey scoffs “Every monster down here is an idiot.” 

Sans grinned, seeing a weak point. “you said every monster. what about the kid?” 

The flower froze, a split second tell before he started to laugh. “You think I would care about that idiot? Why would I feel anything for the person who keeps reseting my memories?” 

“how would you even know that she’s been doing that?” Sans asked, his soul sinking as he realized that he probably didn’t actually want the answer to that question. 

“Do you really think that Chara and Frisk are the only ones with Determination?” Flowey asked, his grin turning sharp. _“Do you want to know the best ways to make Papyrus scream?”_

Sans’ magic lashed out at the flower, as Flowey ducked back into the ground and was gone. The flower’s voice echoed throughout the bar one last time. 

“Remember what I said Smiley Trashbag. You kill Chara and we’ll put how much Papyrus really loves you to the test.” 

Sans stood in the ruined bar, clenching his jaw for several minutes before he realized that the flower had done the smart thing and ran away. The skeleton stepped over the broken wood and shattered glass to stand over the demon. Blood was starting to pool around its head, and Sans debated what to do. Lying there unconscious, it looked a lot like Frisk was the one in control. 

Sans reached down and scooped the body up, holding it close to his chest. It was so small and frail and for just a second Sans could imagine that he was going to tuck Frisk into bed after a day of playing with Papyrus. The skeleton gave into the urge to bury his face in the brown hair. 

“c’mon buddy,” he muttered, taking a step forward. He raised his foot up in Grillby’s and set it down in his own room. He shook off the excess magic from the teleport, and set the demon down on his bed. “you can beat this thing Frisk. i’m rootin for you kid.” 

Sans blinked and his room was replaced with a bright golden hall, the line he had just spoken echoing around them all. Frisk stared up at him with eyes that were too tired for a kid before giving him a soft smile. 

*I know you are Sans* she signed before straightening. *I’ll do my best to make sure this is over soon* 

The kid took a step forward, and he dodged the swing of the knife. A manic grin split its face in half and the demon laughed. 

“Come on comedian, you have to admit that this is fun! The rush of your magic, the pressure of what could happen if you lose,” the demon giggled, and threw its arms wide. 

“You can’t deny the fact that killing me would satisfy you.” 

Sans closed his eyes to try and deny the statement, and stared in horror at the melting skeleton in the dark. 

“Sans,” Gaster told him, “There Is More To The Human Than You Know.” 

“SANS!” Papyrus said, pounding on his door, and Sans whirled around, his chest heaving. Hie eyes were wide as he tried to figure out what had happened. “DINNER IS READY. DON’T THINK THAT I’LL LET YOU GET AWAY WITH EATING THAT GREASY FOOD FROM GRILLBY’S TONIGHT.” 

“heh,” Sans forced a chuckled, “come on bro. why dont you-” 

“SANS!” 

“throw me-” 

“DON’T YOU DARE!” 

“a bone?” 

“AUGH!” 

Sans tried to relax, to focus on Papyrus’ voice, but part of him was wondering when this scene will shift. He gripped at his jacket, and took a shuddering breath. 

“i’ll be down in just a sec pap,” Sans said, and there was a pause. He cursed himself, thinking that he probably hadn’t been careful enough with his tone. Papyrus would be hovering for the rest of the night and probably tomorrow as well, which was the last thing Sans needed. He grit his teeth and glared at the demon, at Frisk, at the world. For one horrible moment, he wished that the demon had actually succeeded and that the timeline had ended. 

“ALRIGHT THEN BROTHER,” Papyrus said, cutting off Sans’ thoughts. Sans let out a long breath as he listened to Papyrus’ footsteps, and turned back to the demon. It shifted on the bed, muttering in its sleep. He straightened. He wouldn’t let it take whatever happiness he had away from him, and he wouldn’t stoop to its level. Papyrus deserved the whole world, and all the light on the Surface, and so much more. So Sans would give him that. He would free Frisk from the demon’s control so Papyrus could meet her, so she could break the barrier and they could have their happy ending. Then he would find a way to keep the demon from resetting ever again.   


Chara sat in the darkness of the Void, swinging her legs back and forth. She wouldn’t have minded staying in the Void for the rest of time. It was a simple process to learn how to control the shadows that swirled through it, and nothing was really there physically so she would never have to eat, sleep, or drink again. 

She waved her hand, and the shadows swirled around her to form a vaguely Frisk like shape. The figure pulled out a knife, dancing through the motions of a fight, and for a brief moment Chara let herself want. She let herself wish for a Frisk that would have followed along with her plan to end the timeline, to slaughter everyone. 

Chara sighed as the shadows stilled, and she let the magic fade, the figure melting away. A whistling filled the air, and Chara grinned dropping to the ground as a blade of black color magic flew over her head. She rolled to the left as spikes made of shadows sprouted from where she had been. 

There was only two other people who could show up in the Void and Chara knew where Frisk was. 

"You Are Starting To Improve Child,” Gaster’s voice echoed from all directions.”Perhaps It Is Possible For You To Learn To Dodge As Frisk Does.” 

Chara let out a wild whoop as she jumped out of the way of another attack, and then dove to the side, landing hard as one came out of nowhere from the right. Fights from the Void were strange to adjust to, they were three dimensional, with participants able to move up and down as easily as they could left, right, forward, or back. 

Chara focused, and shot upwards in order to get out of the way of more spikes, and turned to find one inches from her eye. 

“It Seems That You Have Been Defeated Once More,” Gaster said, amusement evident in his tone. 

The grin didn’t waver from Chara’s face, as she tried to catch her breath. “The only thing I can think each time,” Chara said, flopping back down to the ‘ground,’ “is that ‘No wonder Sans is so terrifying.’” 

Out of the corner of her eye, Chara watched the shadows solidify and a white skeletal face appear with a burst of static. The almost dopy smile that was ever present on Gaster’s face widened, and his hands appeared with another burst of static. It wasn’t the most solid he had ever appeared as, but it definitely wasn’t the worst either 

“And How Has My Brother Been?” Gaster asked, his body pooling in a way that would be like sitting for anyone else. 

Chara let out a bitter laugh, “He tried to kill me again.” 

“My Apologies,” Gaster said, inclining his head, and he meant it. It just wasn’t fair that Sans ended up with someone was cool as Gaster as his brother, and that Gaster had been scatter even before she had fallen. Chara wished that there was some way that she and Frisk could stay here with Gaster. Then all she would be missing was Asriel. If it was the four of them, and Chara didn’t have to deal with anyone else. Maybe then she could be happy. 

“How Are You Planning On Dealing With His Anger?” Gaster asked her. 

“Dunno,” Chara muttered, “Don’t really care either as long as I don’t reset or reload and bother Frisk.” 

“She Is Recuperating?” Gaster asked, and Chara nodded. 

“Have you ever seen what she does when she stays here?” Chara asked softly, her hand curling around her chest reflexively, as if that would let her feel the echo in their twin souls. 

“I Have Refrained From That Course Of Action,” Gaster said, “Frisk Cloaks Herself In Shadow, Which I Interpret To Mean That She Wishes To Remain Alone.” 

“Why do we even end up here?” Chara asked. 

“Your Magic And Determination Are Tied To The Void, The Space Between All Of Time And Space. Your Code Is Simply Too Complex For The World To Be Able To Support It All While It Is Also Dealing With The Glitch That Messes With Your Repeats,” Gaster explained, the ones and zeros that he had once explained were the code of the world scrolling in front of them. “When We Find The Problem And Fix It, You Will Stop Showing Up Here Naturally. If You Wish To Visit Then You Will Have To Find High Concentrations Of Magic Where The Wall Of Reality Is Weak.” 

“What’s this if shit?” Chara asked, “Where else am I going to find someone willing to really fight me at the same time they talk science?” 

“Past Data Has Shown That Sans Is Capable Of This,” Gaster pointed out, his body dripping as he lost hold on it. 

“Sans would kill me,” Chara said darkly, “Or I would kill him. Either way Frisk would be upset.” 

“The Savior Becomes Unhappy Even When We Fight,” Gaster said with a chuckle, his body solidifying a little bit more. Chara’s grin turned fond, and the absolute darkness wavered. “Ah. It Seems That This Is Goodbye.” 

“Only catch you later,” Chara said forcefully, “I’ll bring chocolate next time.” 

“If You Can Manage That,” Gaster teased at the exact time Chara’s dream ended. She opened her eyes to dirty sheets, and Chara could feel her cheeks ache with a grin. 

“Bastard,” she said.


	3. I'm so tired part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“HALT HUMAN!”_
> 
> The air seemed to freeze as the loud voice echoed from the speakers of the computer. The demon squeezed its eyes shut, while Sans felt nauseous. This was definitely something that he had never wanted Papyrus to learn about.

Chara glanced around, and turned to the window that sat above the bed, figuring that Sans had thought she wasn’t going to be awake for another little while and left it unlocked. She didn’t know where the smiley trash bag was and tried her best not to care. The window clicked open easily, and she climbed out of the room back into the cold. Snow crunched under her feet, and the corner of her eye caught on the entrance to Sans’s lab. 

Curious about what he might have changed about it, and spiteful over what had happened in the bar, Chara swung her path in that direction and tested the doorknob. She was pleasantly surprised when it opened and she wouldn’t have to go back for the key. 

Her footsteps echoed in the near empty space as she descended the stairs into the place that barely passed as a lab. As soon as she had reached the bottom, she made a beeline for the computer tucked just behind the covered machine. It was where Sans kept all of his notes, as Frisk had found out one run. It was an ongoing debate between the two of girls if they should delete or mess with his notes. 

Chara thought it would make a lot of their problems go away, like the suspicious glances Sans would send their way. Or his complete apathy towards any of their problems, or his resentment, hatred, and blame over the Resets. 

Frisk had brought up the fact that doing that would also mean that Sans would truly Reset like everyone else, and they would lose one of the few people who understood. She had also pointed out that they had no way of knowing if he had back ups or some way to track what was deleted or changed. They already had enough problems in getting Sans to listen to them, they didn’t need him distrusting them altogether. 

Chara pushed aside her loneliness that Frisk wasn’t there to have their usual argument, and entered the password for the computer, watching it boot up. She shut down the diagram of the timeline that appeared first on instinct, closing it before she could get a good look at it and the sheer number of Resets that had happened. Another few clicks of the keyboard and all of Sans’s files were in front of her, and she groaned. 

Every single one was a skeleton pun in some form. 

Chara’s eye twitched and she resisted the urge to slam her head on the desk. Or to slam the computer to the floor. There was no way that she would be able to tell which file would be one she wanted see. She slammed her hands down on the keyboard, growling under her breath, and cursed out loud when it selected a video file. 

She froze as the painfully familiar voice drifted from the speakers. 

_“let’s just get to the point.”_

Chara distantly realized that her hands were beginning to shake as she saw Sans standing across from her in the video, the familiar golden light of the Judgement Hall tinting the whole video. 

_“it’s a beautiful day outside, birds are singing, flowers are blooming...on days like these, kids like you…”_

Chara jolted backwards as the bones appeared on screen, even though the her in the video avoided them easily, movements all from memories. 

_“S H O U L D B E B U R N I N G I N H E L L.”_

Chara’s breath caught in her throat, her mind caught up in the flashing blue magic as it tore her to pieces, as it slammed her against pillars, as her blood splattered against golden tiles over and over again, a brutal painting that she never got to enjoy. Her fists clenched on the keyboard in front of her, her breath coming short gasps as she struggled to control her memories and her body. 

The video in front of her finished, automatically changed to the next one on file, and through her struggle to breathe Chara distantly recognizing the figure as Undyne the Undying forming spears.  


  


Sans tried his best to shrug Papyrus off, claiming to be tired as he usually did, but his younger brother refused to leave him alone. It left Sans feeling warm at the same time it made him clench his teeth in worry and frustration. Paps wouldn’t understand why the demon needed to be watched, having only interacted with it while it was pretending to be Frisk, and Sans didn’t want to give it a chance to kill Papyrus now that its plans had gone wrong. 

“really bro, i’ll be fine. at least humerus me, why dontcha?” Sans insisted. 

Papyrus gave him a stern look, and replied, “DON’T TRY TO DISTRACT ME WITH PUNS SANS! YOU’VE BEEN ACTING STRANGE ALL DAY AND KEPT GLANCING AT YOUR ROOM DURING DINNER.” The taller skeleton crossed his arm. “PLEASE BROTHER, YOU’RE STARTING TO WORRY ME.” 

“it’s nothing you need to worry about pap. promise.” Sans cracked the door to his room open, just enough to get a glimpse of his bed, and froze. The skeleton was sure that if he had blood or skin, he would have gone dead white, his magic roaring under his bones and swirling just under his control. Everything felt like it was tunneling, his mind racing as he tried to figure out where the demon could have gone. 

The window was left open, so Sans could probably follow the footsteps before it did too much damage- but no it was too smart to leave behind footprints like an amatuer- maybe his notes could tell him something- he had messed up again- couldn’t do anything right- made another mistake- 

“BROTHER? SANS?” 

Oh god, it had been so long since a Sans had to deal with a violent run- what if the demon had just been playing him the whole time- what if Frisk was actually gone forever and- how could he trust anything when it was all just going to be Reset- he thought he heard distant footsteps- what if it was just playing with him- 

“SANS?! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” 

He had to- he had to- he had to check his notes, figure out where the demon would probably go next. Waterfall seemed the next logical choice, to come tackle him and Papyrus last now that Sans had time to prepare for it. He couldn’t let it get away with killing everyone. He had to be the deterrent, had to convince himself that it could be stopped or at least prevented or he would go insane- 

“I’M REALLY WORRIED SANS. SINCE WHEN DID WE HAVE A DOOR THERE?” 

But most importantly he had to keep Papyrus safe, couldn’t let that horrible clip come to pass- 

A rough but warm hand on Sans’s shoulder jolted him out of his tumbling panicked thoughts, and he glanced at it in surprised, having forgotten that there was anyone with him at all. He glanced up to see the blatant worry and fear on Papyrus’s face, and then away to see that they were in front of his lab, the door already open to reveal the stairs down. 

“ummmm, well-” 

“NO SANS,” Papyrus cut him off with a slight snap to his voice, “YOU DON’T GET TO BLOW THIS ONE OFF. YOU DON’T GET TO PRETEND EVERYTHING IS OK. SANS...YOU AREN’T OK.” An uncertain look crossed the younger skeleton’s face, and Sans felt a stab of guilt. Papyrus shouldn’t have to worry about him that much. His younger brother knelt down to look him in the eye better. 

“YOU SCARED ME SANS. YOU WEREN’T RESPONDING TO ANYTHING. YOU STARTED MUTTERING TO YOURSELF. AND YOUR MAGIC-” Papyrus cut himself off, and Sans found himself reaching for his brother like they were baby bones again and Paps had gotten another nightmare. 

“aww, paps. i didn’t mean to scare ya,” Sans murmured, pulling his younger brother into a hug. He could feel the slight shaking of bones, and closed his eyes. The skeleton could agree with the demon on one thing right now. This current run sucked. Which begged the question: why hadn’t it Reset yet? 

But he would wonder about that later, because Papyrus was pulling away from him to look Sans in the eye. 

“NO MORE SECRETS SANS. YOU CAN’T KEEP DOING THIS. I STILL DON’T KNOW WHY YOUR HP DROPPED SO SUDDENLY.” 

Sans flinched. To him it had been a steady decline as his diagram of the timeline continued to spiral around itself, Reset after Reset after Reset. But to Papyrus it had been an abrupt drop that had him hovering around Sans for weeks. 

Papyrus stood up, and turned towards the lab. “WE MIGHT AS WELL START HERE!” 

“wait, paps-” Sans tried to argue, but his brother was already striding down the stairs, forcing Sans to hurry after him or get left behind. They had only made it halfway down, Sans reaching out to stop Papyrus when they both heard a familiar voice. 

_“If you think I’m gonna give up hope, you’re wrong. ‘Cause I’ve got my friends behind me. Alphys told me she’d watch me fight you…”_

Sans and Papyrus shared a glance and hurried down the rest of the way down. 

_“And if anything went wrong, she would… evacuate everyone. By now she’s called Asgore and told him to absorb the 6 human souls.”_

Sans felt his magic jump again, teleporting him in front of Papyrus at the base of the stairs. Papyrus sent him dirty look, but Sans was too preoccupied by the figure standing in front of his computer playing the video. 

_“And with that power...This world will live on…!”_

Papyrus made a wounded confused noise as they caught sight of Undye turning to dust. 

“wow, you’re really kind of a freak huh?” Sans growled, and the demon whirled around to face them with wide eyes. 

“SANS!” Papyrus scolded, though he sounded shaken from catching the tail end of a video that Sans had planned on him never seeing. He added it to the list of thing the demon had done to earn his anger and that he would pay it back for. 

The demon jumped in surprise at Papyrus’s voice, wide eyes turning to face the taller skeleton. Its whole body was shaking, its fists clenching and unclenching at its sides. It opened its mouth, and then snapped it shut again, looking away from the two skeletons. 

“HUMAN?” Papyrus asked, going to step forward before Sans stopped him, keeping himself between the demon and his younger brother. Papyrus sent him a confused look, but Sans refused to look away from the demon. 

“what thought you’d dust off some distant memories before killing us all?” Sans muttered bitterly. 

“No!” the demon shouted immediately, its head snapping up. Brown eyes flashed Determination red for a fraction of a second as the demon stare him down. “I was-” 

_“HALT HUMAN!”_

The air seemed to freeze as the loud voice echoed from the speakers of the computer. The demon squeezed its eyes shut, while Sans felt nauseous. This was definitely something that he had never wanted Papyrus to learn about. 

“IS THAT ME?” 

_“HEY, QUIT MOVING WHILE I’M TALKING TO YOU! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE SOMETHINGS TO SAY. FIRST: YOU ARE A FREAKING WEIRDO!”_

The demon’s jaw jumped as it clenched its teeth, and it spun around, clicking a few buttons sharply. The video froze, and Sans let out a sigh of relief. 

“HUMAN,” Papyrus’s voice was uncharacteristically serious, “TURN IT BACK ON.” 

Sans stared at his brother with wide eyes, but the demon didn’t turn around, just stood in front of the computer shaking its head. Papyrus stepped forward, and Sans found himself rooted to the ground as he watched his brother place a gloved hand on the demon’s shoulder. The taller skeleton reached over and pressed the button to continue the video file. 

_“NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES. BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE...THE WAY YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER. IT FEELS LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH.”_

The demon was shaking again, its eyes fixed on the screen. Sans took a shuddery breath himself, wishing that he could reach out and stop this from happening, but Papyrus would just turn it back on again. 

_“HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL IN YOU! EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL!!!”_

The demon made a wounded noise at the familiar laugh that sounded, and Papyrus wrapped it into a hug, tucking his chin on its head so that he could keep watching as he effortlessly gave comfort. 

_“HEY, QUIT MOVING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE! SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW!”_

Sans didn’t think that it could change at all, it practically said as much at Grillby’s with its talk about LOVE and how it scarred the soul. He took a step forward, intending on actually doing something, to care for once, to prevent instead of react. 

_“BUT WORRY NOT! I, PAPYRUS...WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE AROUND!!! I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING. ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE?”_

His magic reached out, and wrapped around the demon, careful not to affect Papyrus, and Sans yanked. The demon let out a cry, flying to the left and into the mirror placed there. The glass shattered and rained down. 

“SANS!” Papyrus yelled, moving to help the demon only to find a wall of bones sprout in his way. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” 

_“I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!”_

“what should have done from the beginning,” Sans snapped, watching as the demon stood. 

It chuckled, though it sounded forced, and Papyrus glanced at it in surprise. Sans grimaced, not wanting Papyrus to learn exactly what his new ‘friend’ actually was. 

_“W-WELL, THAT’S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED.”_

Sans refused to look at the scene of his brother’s death, keeping his eyes glued to the real threat in front of him. The demon shifted its weight back and forth, debating its options, glancing between the two brothers, probably debating which one would be the easier target. 

“Come on comedian,” the demon said in a sickly sweet voice, and a smile that didn’t reach its eyes. “You have to admit that this is fun. The rush of your magic, the pressure of what could happen if you lose. You can’t deny the fact that killing me would satisfy you.” 

_“BUT...ST..STILL! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK SO! I...I PROMISE…”_

And Sans snapped his magic forward, knowing that in this golden Judgement Hall, the dance between the two of them would continue forever.  


  


Chara cursed herself as she threw herself out of the way of Sans’s attack, scraping her skin on broken glass for the second time that night. The timelines were getting mixed up in her head, and she couldn’t help but taunt Sans like she had in their fights. It was forced, oh so forced, but it had made her feel a little bit better, only for it to endanger her life. 

But the worst part was that they weren’t actually in the Judgement Hall. There wasn’t enough room for her to maneuver in the lab, making dodging Sans’s attack that much harder. Chara rolled away as a series of bones shot up from the ground, eerily familiar to her earlier spar with Gaster. Her eyes darted over to where Papyrus was watching, but couldn’t focus on him long enough to tell what he was thinking. 

She still couldn’t just Reset because of Frisk. Chara need to get at least past Waterfall for Frisk to have enough time to recover, and as they had learned the hard way, it was the location, not the amount of time that it took to get there. It made Chara curse the Void and its weird way of screwing with time. 

She winced as an attack clipped her, tearing at her shoulder. She took a deep breath, trying not to panic. Sans was losing control, his attack spinning throughout the lab wildly without a care for what else was there. The blueprints that had been on display were already torn to shreds, and the only reason Papyrus hadn’t been pulled into the fight already was because of the wall that Sans had put up earlier taking the brunt of the damage. 

Chara thought that maybe Papyrus was yelling at them, but she had to direct all of attention to Sans or end up dead. She jumped over a bone, pushing off the wall to avoid another, and ducking and rolling to avoid the last one. She hissed under her breath at the pain it caused to her previous injuries, and wished that she had thought to pick up some healing items. All she had were Toriel’s pie and the spider donut. 

There was a loud crack and Chara’s head whipped around to see the wall that had been keeping Papyrus in place crack and break. The hesitation and surprise earned her an injury on the leg, but Chara ignored it. She wasn’t as good at dodging as Frisk was, but she still did her best to make her way over towards the taller skeleton. Afterall, she could die without consequence and he couldn’t. 

Papyrus was crafting his own attacks to block some of Sans which Chara was thankful for, her breath starting to come in ragged gasps. She ducked under a blast while Papyrus blocked another, and caught sight of a Gaster Blaster aiming from behind Papyrus. It was pointed at her, but it would go through the skeleton to get there. 

Chara didn’t give herself the moment to be stunned at Sans even thinking of pointing a weapon at his younger brother, and forced herself to move. 

She reached out and shoved Papyrus with all her strength, turning just in time to take the blast to her stomach. The human let out a choked off cry of pain, and fell to her knees, her hands reaching up to try and staunch the bleeding. 

She heard a sharp whack, but turning to look would send agony through her gut so she didn’t, instead trying to decide if it would be worth it eat the pie and heal herself or if she should just let the wound take its course  


  


Sans’s reached up to touch the spot on his head that Papyrus had hit, the golden light fading from his eyes leaving only the shattered lab in its wake. He blinked at the damage around him, while Papyrus spun on his heel and hurried over to the demon. 

Sans’s whole body was trembling, exhaustion creeping up on him from the repeated use of his magic, but he still trailed after his brother and stood next to the demon. 

“HUMAN,” Papyrus said gently, “I NEED TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY HEALING ITEMS.” 

“...Butterscotch-cinnamon pie,” it muttered, “Shouldn’t matter though, going to run out of HP fairly quickly.” Papyrus frowned at the demon, rummaging through its pockets to find the pie it was talking about as it kept talking, its voice growing weaker as it did so. “You- you don’t understand. Never- never have.” 

“THEN THAT IS A GOOD REASON FOR YOU TO SURVIVE,” Papyrus declared, holding the pie out to it. Sans tried not to notice the nicks along his bones. “EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CANNOT UNDERSTAND A SITUATION UNTIL IT IS EXPLAINED TO ME, AND YOU CAN’T DO THAT IF YOU HAVE DIED!” 

The demon blinked at him tiredly, and then chuckled. “Just like her some days I swear,” it muttered, taking a bite out of the pie. Papyrus scooped it up into his arms, and turned to Sans. “WE’RE GOING BACK TO THE HOUSE, AND YOU’RE BOTH GOING TO EXPLAIN,” Papyrus told him. Sans let out a tired chuckle. 

“heh, sure bro,” he conceded quietly, “not like i can do anything else at this point.”


	4. I'm so tired PART 4

Chara really just wanted to curl up and go back to sleep, because maybe if she did that she could find Frisk who would take care of the problem without violence like usual. Chara never spent time in the loops to learn how, because Frisk was always going to be there to do that. Chara was science and fighting, that’s what she was good for, and what she studied. Frisk was the diplomat, the one who dodged, and the one who studied magic that wasn’t offensive. 

Papyrus gently set her on the couch, and giving Sans a stern look before heading off to the kitchen to acquire more healing items for her HP, which was still steadily ticking downward from the multitude of wounds that she had sustained. The wound in her stomach had been healed by the pie thankfully, as well as some of her worse wounds around her arms and legs, and Chara took a second to thank Toriel for being so skilled in baking, because at least all of the pain was gone. 

Chara settled down into a more comfortable position, ignoring the glare that Sans sent her way. She closed her eyes, listening to Papyrus moving around in the kitchen. The near silence was tense, and it eventually reached to point where Chara couldn’t take it anymore. 

“What?” she snapped, turning to glare right back at the shorter skeleton. “If you’re that upset with me, why don’t you just kill me? It’s not like I can fight back right now.” 

She probably shouldn’t be encouraging someone who hated her guts to kill her, but she was tired, sore, and already missing Frisk. It frustrated her, because she used to be the scourge of the Underground, and without Frisk’s care and Determination, she felt like a muzzled attack dog. It was humiliating and she wanted to spread her bad mood to others. 

“paps trusts me not to fight you right now,” he muttered, “not even you can make me break that trust.” 

Chara scowled, that sentence hitting a little too close to home to be comfortable. After all, the only reason she hadn’t killed anyone yet was because Frisk trusted her not to. She bared her teeth at Sans, hating the fact that she could have something in common with the one monster that could give her nightmares, could scare her just that tiny bit. 

“What,” she snapped, “don’t have the guts to finish off what you started in the lab?” 

Sans scowled right back at her, “you already used that pun.” 

“Did not,” she retorted, her voice growing in volume and she missed the fact that the sounds from the kitchen had stopped. “I said I was trying to find my guts then, not that you didn’t have them. It’s a different pun.” 

“no, it’s not!” Sans’s voice grew right along side hers, “the pun is a play on words, it doesn’t matter what the exact sentence is, the joke is the exact same.” 

“No it’s not!” Chara shouted, not even sure why she was fighting about this except for the fact that is upset the Smiley Trashbag and that pleased the roaringly angry part of her calling for blood. Or dust it wasn’t picky. “It’s the meaning behind it that matters!” 

“if it was meaning than all jokes would be the same, since they're meant to make people laugh,” Sans shouted, matching her volume and word for word. Always right along side her, haunting Chara from the corner of her eyes. 

“There’s more reasons to make jokes than that! Like making fun of someone,” she insisted, “But look at you always taking the moral high ground. It always has to be your way doesn’t it?! You’re always the one in the right!” 

“if the other person is you, then yeah!” Sans’s magic surged around the room so thick that even as a human Chara could feel it. She met his gaze, refusing to show weakness, to let him know how many bad memories it brought up. 

“Or maybe just a human? How many times have you condemned Frisk just for defending herself?!” 

Sans froze for half a second, and Chara smirked. 

“the kid has nothing to do with this,” he said lowly, 

“She has everything to do with this!” Chara screamed, gesturing with a wide sweep of her hands, and ignoring how the movement lowered her HP even faster. “Not only is she the whole reason we had a chance to get in the damn situation, but she’s the one who had a compatible enough soul to bring me back! But oh that doesn’t matter does it, because Chara’s the one who killed everyone. And it’ll never matter if she tries her best to make it up!” 

She let out a hysterical laugh, “Because the flower that used to be her best friend will always insist that there’s some evil reason behind her actions. Because the Judge will always find her guilty because of past actions! Because no matter how hard I try I’ll never live up to Frisk! Frisk who had enough Determination to go through loop after loop without faltering. Frisk who can dodge, who can talk to people, who doesn’t have a shadow attached to her despite the fact that our pasts are exactly the same!” 

Her breath came in pants, and she didn’t even try to read the look on Sans’s face. “But not even Frisk is good enough for you monsters,” she spat, “Because without fail, every run, no one gets hurt but god forbid if someone does because all of a sudden even she’s evil for committing the crime of self defense!” 

“a single human can kill every monster in the Underground multiple times over if they have even the littlest bit of EXP,” Sans snarled, “you want to condemn an entire race for the act of trying to defend itself? that’s hypocritical considering what you just said.” 

“HYPOCRITE?” Chara screeched, “I’ll show you hypocrite you lazy ass bastard-” 

“HUMAN! SANS!” Papyrus cut in, “THAT IS ENOUGH!” 

The two of them froze and turned to look at the tall skeleton standing in the doorway. Papyrus was frowning and the apron he wore did nothing to lessen the effect. Chara felt her defenses fall at the expression that she had seen Frisk wear several times when Chara did something morally dubious. 

“Sans started it,” she said quickly, pointing at said monster. 

“that’s a fibula,” Sans retorted. “you started the fight by opening your mouth.” 

“You were glaring at me! What was I supposed to do? Sit there and take it?!” 

“GUYS!” Papyrus cut in again as he stepped into the room, handing Chara a plate of spaghetti and a cinnamon bunny to restore her HP. “WE ARE ALL FRIENDS IN THIS BUILDING.” 

“well one of us doesn’t have any friends at all,” Sans muttered, and Chara didn’t flinch at that. She had Frisk even if she had no idea why the other girl would want to spend time with her. And Frisk was worth a hundred of whatever few friends Sans still had, if he hadn’t driven them away with his increasingly lazy attitude. 

Chara opened her mouth to reply again, but a look from Papyrus shut her down. 

“IF WE CAN’T BE FRIENDS THEN WE CAN AT LEAST BE ADULTS SANS!” he said sternly, sitting down next to Chara on the couch and looking over the worst of her remaining injuries, and urging her to eat all of the food in front of her. The spaghetti wasn’t the worst cooking she had ever had, and at least it wasn’t made of glitter. The cinnamon bunny, on the other hand, was warm and soft and just right. The only thing that would have made it better would have been little bits of chocolate in it. 

The silence stretched between them as Chara ate, until she couldn’t take it anymore, shoving the plate away from her half eaten. Her HP wasn’t full, but it wasn’t dropping anymore so she figured it would be fine. 

“So are we going to get this party started or what?” she snapped, and Papyrus looked at her with wide eyes. “Or are you too much of a coward to explain, comedian?” 

“HUMAN!” Papyrus scolded, and Chara figured he must have been confused because she wasn’t keeping the Frisk act up, no more mister nice human from her. She scowled. 

“My name is Chara,” she said acidly, “Frisk may let you get away with calling her by her species, Monster, but I refused to be lumped into a group with those idiots.” 

The magic in the room became thick and heavy again as Sans glared at her. Chara glared right back; he at least shouldn’t expect anything different from her. Sans always expect the worse from her, why should talking to his little brother be any different? 

It was a pride thing, no matter what Frisk made noises about. 

“MY APOLOGIES HU- CHARA,” Papyrus placed a hand on Sans’s arm, and looked her straight in the eye. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT YOUR FEELINGS.” 

Sans snorted at the same time Chara protested that phrasing. It didn’t hurt her feelings, or even bother her in the least! She was a demon who had slaughter the Underground like bugs! She wouldn’t have any problem with being reminded of the people who had raised her. Because her real family would always be the Dreemurs. 

It wasn’t like there were days she wished she wasn’t human. 

“as if it’s got any feelings to hurt,” Sans muttered, and Papyrus made an exasperated sound. Sans shrugged at him, “sorry, bro. we’ve got a lot of problems built up because of that thing, and it’s going to take time to work them all out.” 

Chara let out a strangled shout at what she knew was a pun about time, and Sans gave her a cheeky wink. 

“I should have taken the time to savor killing you more comedian,” she replied flatly, and Sans let out a dark chuckle. 

“IF WE COULD FOCUS,” Papyrus declared, looking uneasy at the mention of Chara killing Sans. Chara took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She was running off of adrenaline, just being in the same room as Sans, setting her on high alert. Frisk managed it every day of every loop, and Chara couldn’t even begin to contemplate how. 

“I WAS TOLD I WOULD BE GETTING AN EXPLANATION,” Papyrus continued. 

“Right,” Chara said, doubting that he would understand what was going on even after it was explained. There was also the problem that there thousands of loops, and it would be near impossible for someone to catch him up at this point. She always wondered how Sans did it, especially the longer that they were stuck. 

Silence descended again, and Chara rolled her eyes. “What spent so long hiding from your brother that you can’t even talk to him after you’ve told him you will?” She didn’t wait for Sans to reply, turning to face Papyrus. “The whole world is stuck in a time loop. From two days ago to either when this body reached old age or I will it is how long the loop lasts. Your brother has a way of tracking it and keeping notes even after time is rewound.” 

“WHAT-?” Papyrus tried, but Chara cut him off, ruthlessly continuing. 

“No one ever remembers everything except Frisk and I, and so everything happens the way that it did before over and over again unless we do something really drastic. It happens because humans have a thing called Determination which can bend even time to its will if someone possess enough of it, and Frisk carries it in spades. There. Situation explained.” 

“WOWIE!” Papyrus exclaimed, “THAT’S AMAZING! WHAT SORT OF THINGS NORMALLY HAPPEN?” 

“i think you might have been thrown for a loop,” Sans interjected, “ ‘Cause you left a lot out of that.” 

Papyrus let out a screech, and Chara groaned, her eye twitching. She took a deep breath, resolving to do her best to ignore Sans’s pun, or he would simply do them to tick her off. 

“Normally, Frisk would go through the Underground making friends with Toriel, you, Sans, Undyne, Alphys, and Asgore before breaking the barrier and living some sort of life on the surface.” 

“CHARA?” Papyrus asked, and she uncomfortable aware of the way Sans stared at her, “WHO IS THIS FRISK PERSON?” 

“yeah, where is the kid?” Sans’s tone was accusing, and Chara fought the urge to flinch. She reminded herself that she hadn’t done anything wrong, and that Sans was a grade A, judging asshole. 

“Frisk is,” she shifted in her spot, “Frisk isn’t here right now.” She clenched and unclenched her fists, uncomfortably aware of how much of a knife’s edge she was on. The moment it looked like she was at fault for Frisk not being in control, Sans would kill her, breach of Papyrus’s trust or not. For all that he talked about remembering consequences, and taking responsibility during the RESETS, Sans himself was quick to jump on the ship of taking advantage of the fact no one would remember. 

She took a deep breath, and forged onward, Determination not to let Sans get to her too bad giving her the courage she needed to keep talking. “Frisk and I share a body,” she started, and stopped again, not sure how much she could explain that either of the skeletons would understand. She was a little bit confused about it herself some days, since Frisk was the one who had studied why it had happened, and how their bond worked. 

“Souls,” She started again, ignoring the look that Sans sent her, not wanting to know what was going through his head right then, “Human and Monster alike, they all have the same general makeup of magic, everyone knows this. But human Souls have Determination which allows them to exist after a human has died. Despite this a human soul is usually only made up of a small percentage of Determination, these other traits are what gives a human soul its color. The six souls that the Underground has right now are Patience, Bravery, Perseverance, Kindness, Justice, and Integrity. Each of them are a different color right? 

“Because of this each soul has a different, lets say vibration, that it gives off. Each one is completely unique, because every soul is made up of a different percentage of each trait. This is why a monster and human soul can absorb each other, because compared to human souls there’s just so little to a monster that the vibrations are tiny, and can easily line up to a human soul’s. Human souls on the other hand, can’t fuse with other human souls because the vibrations are too different and too stubborn to change for another one.” 

“When Frisk fell into the Underground all that time ago, I was simply a fraction of a soul, hanging on years after death through Determination alone. My own vibrations were more like a monster’s than a human so it was simple to slip into her soul, using it to shelter my own. What we found out later was that my soul was basically up to me to rebuild, and it would depend on my choices. And it never should have worked, a human soul was too complex. If I was a monster, there would have been a slight chance of me rebuilding my soul in a normal lifetime, all I would have needed would have been a shred of magic, and then time. 

“But as a human, with a human soul, I would need to balance out the other traits to make a complete soul,” Something she still didn’t quite have right now, “and it would take time. Huge amounts of time. So until then I was basically set on my last thoughts and feelings.” Which had been betrayal, anger, and grief at what had happened in the village and to Asriel. 

It made her wonder what would have happened if her life had ended on a positive note. Maybe instead of genocide, she would have been content with helping Frisk escape the Underground. But no. She had always been protective of those she thought of as hers, and probably would have gone down that route in an attempt at justice for all the times Frisk had died, and to prevent the other girl’s soul from being taken. 

“WOWIE!” Papyrus shouted, startling Chara out of her thoughts. “SO YOU MUST HAVE BEEN THINKING NICE THOUGHTS! SINCE YOU’RE SUCH AN AMAZING FRIEND!” 

Chara stared at him, wondering where the hell he had gotten that impression from, because she was nowhere near an amazing friend. She could barely make Frisk happy after centuries of being part of the other girl’s soul, let alone anyone else in the world. 

“what were your final thoughts?” Sans asked, and Chara flinched, cursing herself for such a sign of weakness in front of such an enemy. He knew exactly what had happened throughout the RESETS and could use it against her time and time again. 

That and telling Sans what she had been thinking at the time would only make him angrier at her than he already was with her. She had even managed to keep the fact that she specifically targeted the Skeleton brothers from Frisk, and it gave Chara a weird mix of pride and guilt. The sight of a pair of siblings, so different but so close, had brought up a lot of memories that she hadn’t wanted to think about at the time. She had wanted to break them like Asriel and her had been broken. 

Her hands shook, and she distantly heard Papyrus call her name as the smell of dust and ashes filled her nostrils. Her hands closed around empty air, missing the knife that she didn’t have, and she had to forcefully stop herself from thinking about the sharp objects sitting in the kitchen so close. 

Sans voice cut through the haze, like it always had, like it always would. “you look like you’ve seen a ghost. sumthin the matter?” 

She snarled at him, struggling to remember that she wasn’t in a genocide timeline, that every monster outside was alive, that she wasn’t repeating her mistakes again. She wanted to scream at him that something was always the matter. That if it wasn’t her, it was Frisk. If it wasn’t Frisk, it was Sans. The three of them were on a wheel, forever turning, one that would never land on happiness for all of them. 

She stood up abruptly, needing to get out of the room, needing to leave Sans’s judgmental stare that would leave her standing in golden light which was the last thing she needed right now. The tension in the room sky rocketed, and she ignored the way Sans sat up in his chair, and slipped a hand out of his pocket. 

She didn’t want to see Papyrus’s face when he learned that his new ‘friend’ had slaughtered him and everyone he cared about over and over and over again for her own amusement. It was because he reminded her of Frisk and nothing more. There was no way she was growing attached to the softhearted skeleton. He was a loud annoyance and nothing more. Sans’s magic would hurt more than a disappointed stare from one who believed in her her so wholeheartedly. 

It was only because she was missing Frisk. That was the only answer for her shaky emotions being all over the place. And showing emotions was a weakness. 

So she ran, ducking out the door and into the snow, ignoring the surprised shouts behind her. All she knew was that she had to get out of that house, just like she had needed to at the very beginning of her life. She ran, the snow crunching beneath her feet, and the cold nipping at her arms. 

A cold that was nothing compared to the echoing silence that was still at the back of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops Sorry for the long wait guys. You're the best!
> 
> I gave in an got a tumblr \o/
> 
> Feel free to come [tumble](https://thesocialbookwormwrites.tumblr.com/) with me ^-^


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